Think of Piltover
by Shaille
Summary: During a friendly Demacia-Piltover match on the Twisted Treeline, something goes terribly wrong. For all they know, the Institute of War might have just fallen apart. [a seperate story set in Stray Dogs universe] [femslash, character death, cursing] [one-shot]


Welcome to the Twisted Treeline!

Uh... no, not really, but welcome anyway. This story is a kind of a lengthy one-shot. It's placed in the same universe as one of my other stories - Stray Dogs - but can be read without reading SD first, as they only share a common theme. If you have read SD, however - this will be another view at the event. Please read the A/N at the end of the story to find out more.

Major thanks to **Swords Divine Light** (/u/2343391/) for beta-reading the story!

**Warning:** This story contains a femslash (girlxgirl) pairing, swearing and character death. If you feel triggered or offended by any of these things, please stop reading now.

**Note:** All characters are dressed in their usual clothes, except for Shyvana, who is dressed as pictured in Ironscale Shyvana.

**Disclaimer:** All characters and places mentioned belong to Riot.

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><p><strong>Think of Piltover<strong>

Vi leant against the turret, throwing her head back and closing her eyes. The silence that veiled the Twisted Treeline was deafening, as if the air was trying to burst through her eardrums with its pressure. Surely Heimerdinger would have a long and _boring_ lecture about it, had she ever been crazy enough to ask, but somehow the thought slipped from her mind as soon as she left the Fields. She actually enjoyed matches here, though certainly _not_ for the comforting setting. The fights were fast and intense, just the way she'd always liked it.

But she had to wait now. A yawn managed to escape her lips and she stretched, flexing the fingers of her enormous gauntlets, enjoying the mechanical sound. She couldn't get the taste of the air off her tongue; it was somehow salty, as if the mist hovering around her was filled with something more than just air and water. It smelled weirdly too, just like Heimer's workshop sometimes did. Like electricity, or batteries, or something.

The clicking of high heels against the stony pavement saved her from digging too deep into her own thoughts. She pushed herself off the turret, placing one hand at her hip and facing the upcoming woman.

"Gods, Cait," she whined as soon as the Sheriff was close enough to see her feigned hurt expression. "What the hell took you so long? I almost _died_!"

Caitlyn raised her rifle on instinct and looked around, taking particular care to check behind Vi's back.

"There's nobody here," she observed.

"Of _boredom_."

"Well, excuse me," the shorter girl huffed, lowering the gun and getting closer to her, sending the Enforcer one of those heart-melting annoyed faces. "My Summoner had a little... _problem_ with choosing the best starting items."

"Alright, you're excused then," Vi chuckled, putting a lock of Caitlyn's hair behind her ear with the tip of her enormous gauntlet finger, smiling widely as a blush joined the brunette's frown. "Jaycey going alone?"

"He said he has to prove something to you."

Vi snorted, looking in the direction of Jayce's lane. Really, that idiot - always seeking opportunities to _impress_. Giving up on Caitlyn quite a while ago, noticing her complete lack of interest in his actions, he recently switched to the pink haired former criminal.

"He'll never learn, will he?"

A line of minions passed the turret silently, the only sounds being the rustling of their blue cloaks and the creaking of the wooden wheels of the cart one of them mounted. The Piltover crime-fighting duo stepped aside to let the little guys through.

A shout broke through the otherwise quiet Fields of Justice as the leading minion fell down in flames. From the distance they could see two figures emerging from the fog of war on the opposite side of the lane, one taller than the other, the shorter one bearing a rather large cross-bow. The rider of the cart fell down from it quickly, three silver bolts rammed in his chest.

Vi and Caitlyn hurriedly made their way to the middle of the lane, the Sheriff already shooting down one of the purple team's caster minions, not breaking the run.

"Hey there," said Vi, as she dodged one of Shyvana's fireballs by ducking behind a minion. She felt the slightest pang of guilt as he soundlessly fell to his knees. Discarding that thought, the Piltovian stuck her tongue out at the Dragonborn, grinning widely as she saw the young girl smirk.

Vi turned to look at Vayne, who was too busy taking the minions down to even notice Caitlyn doing the same.

"A dragon and a dragon slayer, huh? Now that's an _unusual_ duo you two make."

"And a completely usual duo on your side," the older Demacian spoke in an unamused tone, her eyes never leaving the blue targets. "Are there honestly no other people in Piltover?"

"Awww, don't make it sound like you're not happy to see us!" Vi jumped over another fireball and punched a minion to the ground. Vayne smiled, but otherwise made no attempt to even look at the pink-haired woman. The Enforcer felt mildly annoyed at that. She charged her gauntlets. "So who's the third one?"

"It's Prince Jarvan," Shyvana answered, failing at hiding the excitement in her voice. "Who's yours?"

"Take a guess!"

They all heard the shout from behind Shyvana and turned their heads in surprise to see Jayce jumping at her, his massive hammer charged with energy. The Dragonborn managed to move out of the way of complete impact, but as he hit the ground the electric shock got to her and she shook wildly for a second.

Jayce hissed as a silver bolt lodged itself deep in his shoulder, followed by one to his back. Shyvana crawled away from him, only to be met with a punch from Vi's fully charged gauntlets. She flew back a few feet, inhumanly dark blood rushing from her nose, into her mouth and down the pale skin of her throat. She coughed and spat, trying to get up but screamed when she felt the sting of a bullet breaking through the armor on her right shoulder.

Vayne quickly stepped in front of the Half-Dragon, effectively taking the damage instead of the younger Demacian as the Night Hunter's painful yelp echoed on the lane. Her left leg gave way, blood streaming down her calf from a punctured knee. Enraged, she sent a few bolts in Caitlyn's direction, hitting the Piltover Sheriff straight in her exposed chest. Caitlyn huffed and stepped back a little, involuntarily holding a hand to her breast as if that could somehow ease the pain, scrunching her nose in disgust as she felt the taste of her own blood seeping through her mouth.

"_Vayne's bolts dug deep_," she thought. It was getting kind of hard to breathe this way.

Another pair of bolts hit Vi's torso as she covered the older girl, stepping bravely in front of her. She was just about to show Vayne what real pain meant when she heard the rustle of leaves just beside her.

Before she knew what happened, Jarvan's lance sunk deep in her stomach.

_"I'm gonna be the First Blood,"_ she said in her mind's voice to her Summoner as the lance pushed further, sticking out of her back awkwardly. Jarvan's grip on the weapon was steel as he twisted it in her guts. An energy blast from Jayce's mercury cannon hit him in the shoulder, scorching half of his face that was still bearing an apologetic smile. After all, this was a friendly match, no need to mock the fallen. _"The First Blood. How fucking pathetic."_

"FIRST BLOOD!" the commentator's voice boomed through the Twisted Treeline, but Vi was still alive. She blinked a few times and looked behind Jarvan's back, where Shyvana's body lay lifeless, a bullet hole in the very middle of her forehead. Smiling, Vi looked the Prince straight in his eyes as she managed to land a last empowered hit to his head before she felt the life slip away from her. She managed to notice a triumphant smirk twisting Caitlyn's lips as everything around faded to black.

"DOUBLE KILL!"

oOo

"Since _when_ are you one to sacrifice yourself for the others?" Jayce's smirk was really starting to annoy her, and the fact that she had died already and the _idiot _somehow managed to survive only added fuel to that. She shot him a not at all pleasant grin and punched him playfully, though with the giant gauntlets she knew it had to have hurt him a bit... or at least she hoped so.

"For Cupcake, Jaycey? I'd jump off the highest bridge in Piltover to get that smile on her face."

"Aww, that's just _too_ cu-"

He was cut off by a beam of blue light as Caitlyn decided to join them in the base, almost landing on Jayce's head.

"Good job, team," she said as soon as she appeared, nodding her head in approval. Vi had to stifle a laugh at Jayce's bewildered expression as she returned the nod to the Sheriff in agreement. Caitlyn's eyes bore an apologetic look. "I'm sorry you had to die."

"Pfft, I'm fine, I'm fine," she waved a hand to indicate it was really no big deal for her. Caitlyn placed a hand on her hip and raised one of her brows. "You got a double, Cupcake, it was well worth my death."

"Almost a triple," she said, smiling. "Shauna managed to get away somehow. I don't know how she's _always_ doing it..."

Looking over her shoulder, Vi noticed Jayce was already gone and probably in the middle of pushing his lane against Jarvan. She motioned the older girl to run for the bottom lane.

They didn't want to let Vayne feed on the minions too much. She would always get sort of scary when she had a lot of gold.

oOo

"Here, dragon, dragon..." Vi chanted mockingly at the great reptile in front of her. Shyvana's scaly brows furrowed and she jumped over to the Enforcer, leaving a blazing path in her wake. Vi ducked the fiery breath of the dragon and rolled over to the side, thanking all gods that were for making bigger things slower.

The Piltovian hissed as she felt the burn on her right shoulder; some of Shyvana's flames actually managed to hit their target.

The beast-girl was standing on massive hind legs, preparing to lurch at the pink-haired fighter and probably bite her head off or something, but she was met with a few rifle shots to her exposed chest.

"Not my partner, you _oversized lizard!_" they heard Caitlyn's shout as Shyvana gave out a deep roar before turning to her human form again.

Caitlyn was about to fire another shot, this time aiming for the girl's head before a silver bolt hit her in the shoulder, forcing the Sheriff to shriek in pain.

"Not my _lizard_, you-"

Vayne didn't have the time to finish the sentence as she was met with a giant fist to her face. She tumbled back quickly, holding a hand to her crushed... _everything_. It was hard to distinguish where the blood was flowing from. Enraged, she shot the nearest minion, taking it down with a single bolt. The wounds slowly started to heal over, exposing what had to be a _badly_ smashed nose.

"You interrupted the joke!" Shyvana gasped, still trying to stand on her legs and breathe despite the bullet holes adorning her chestplate. Blood was dripping to the ground from the Half-Dragon's wounds, but she was used to the pain at this point and the Summoner magic already healed her a bit - so the Demacian actually allowed herself to taunt the Piltover duo.

"It was lame anyway," Vi retorted as she hit one of the purple minions with her charged gauntlets, exclaiming loudly as the impact wave swept Vayne off her feet. Shyvana bared her teeth in rage and shot a fireball at the Enforcer, but the Piltovian ducked it again.

"You were the ones to start it!"

"It wasn't lame _then_!"

"You can't _know_ if it was lame if you didn't let her-"

"Oh, shut up, _both _of you!" Vayne's face was fully healed now and they could clearly see her annoyed expression.

_Really,_ having _these two_ arguing in a place surrounded by a fog so dense it allowed their voices to echo was more than hurting the poor Night Hunter's ears. She wished she had gone alone in the second lane. It was so hard to keep her mind on task, especially with her Summoner shouting in her mind _all the freaking time_.

Caitlyn's shoulder was as good as new, the bolt long gone and forgotten. She nodded to Vi and put her left hand behind her back, her fingers spread wide to indicate a 'five'. Vi couldn't help the wide grin spreading across her face as one of the Sheriff's fingers bent, marking a 'four'. Then another one, 'three'.

'Two'.

She tapped a few buttons on her left gauntlet as stealthily as possible. If any of the opponents noticed, the plan would be ruined.

'One'.

She pushed the final button and let the auto-pilot lead her to Vayne. The Night Hunter's surprised face told her she wasn't expecting it at all as the Piltovian threw her in the air and smashed her to the ground in a matter of seconds. Caitlyn followed perfectly, shooting all the vital places of the Demacian's body in no time at all, keeping just out of Shyvana's reach.

"AN ENEMY HAS BEEN SLAIN!"

Shyvana jumped into her dragon form and lurched at Vi, roaring loudly with all the rage she could muster. She managed to lodge her sharp claws in the Enforcer's chest and yanked back forcefully, flesh ripping and blood staining the pavement beneath Vi's feet. A scream echoed through the Fields again, but it didn't come from Vi, too startled with the sudden pain to even think of vocalizing it.

It was a male voice.

"AN ENEMY HAS BEEN SLAIN!"

The brief interruption was enough to let the Enforcer get away from the dragon and hide behind Caitlyn as the Sheriff fired at the startled beast.

oOo

"Yeah, teamwork!" Vi shouted as they both teleported back to the base. Jayce was already sitting there, enjoying the healing magic. Facing Jarvan wasn't easy; he almost managed to kill Jayce a couple of times, but eventually he got too cocky and tried diving him under the turret. He had to take a few shots too much, allowing the Defender of Tomorrow to finish him off with one blast from his mercury cannon. The Prince managed to throw the ignite on him, though, and he had to flee to base as soon as he was sure it was safe for his Summoner to recall him.

"Whom did you kill?" he asked the girls, as Caitlyn, judging from her irritated expression, was obviously arguing over something with her Summoner inside her head and Vi was busy gathering some healing potions from the shopkeeper. The Enforcer turned to him and he noticed the blood stained front of her shirt.

"Vayne this time," she answered, somewhat proudly. "She didn't even have time to react before I knocked her up in the air."

He smiled at her, wondering whether his clothes looked that bad as well. He just got this set from the Institute Laundry yesterday.

"Good job with Jarvan, by the way," she added, high-fiving him with the great gauntlets. In the corner of his eye he could see Caitlyn shaking her head vigorously. If he remembered correctly, her Summoner was a fresh one, only classification level fifteen, and he was probably trying to make some stupid decisions.

"Well, I must admit he's a tough opponent," he said, running a hand through his smooth hair. "Not enough to be a _problem_, but still not as easy as some."

Vi shook her head in disbelief, smiling.

"You're such a show off, _Jaycey,_" she said, lightly punching his shoulder as she passed him on the platform, heading for her lane. He winced in pain and massaged the sore place immediately; Vi didn't even know how much force she put in her _friendly_ punches. Regardless of how many times he told her. She stopped for a moment and turned to face him with a wink. "But don't change it. We like you like this."

Caitlyn patted him on the head, running out of the base as well. Jayce smiled and took his gear before departing to meet Prince Jarvan.

They treated him like an oversized puppy sometimes, but it wasn't all that bad.

oOo

The only thing Vi didn't like about Twisted Treeline were the damned altars.

"_Seriously_, why do we even bother with that?" she bared her teeth as she stood in the path to their part of the 'jungle', as Summoner's liked to call it, even though there were barely any bushes and absolutely no trees around, at least not any live ones. S

he squinted her eyes to see anything in the dense fog, though she knew it wouldn't help at all - the fog was magical and the only way to see through it was to actually come closer. Caitlyn was standing on their altar, the light slowly forming a circle around her and, judging by the look on Caitlyn's face, she was having an intense argument with her Summoner, _again_. Vi sighed, slumping her shoulders; she was always happy to cover the Sheriff from any harm, but just standing there and doing nothing was _extremely_ boring.

"It does boost our statistics," Caitlyn said angrily, though Vi was fairly sure the anger wasn't aimed at her. She could even guess the whole sentence was not only for her to hear. "We should take the other one as well."

"Yeah, I can guarantee you it's being guarded," Vi huffed. "They must have noticed we're gone."

The leaves rustled behind Caitlyn and Vi felt a sting of anxiety in her chest. She charged her gauntlets, readying herself to jump at whomever was about to step out of this bush...

"It's me, it's me." Jayce held his hands up and motioned Vi to settle down. She relaxed immediately; though she'd never admit it, having Jayce close when Caitlyn was so exposed felt a little bit reassuring.

The string of light around the Sheriff met its other end, forming a circle and the hologram animation of a female ghost appeared where Caitlyn stood just a second ago. Vi considered their options now; going for the second altar meant they would have to engage in a team fight - there was no way in this world that the Demacian trio would be anywhere else. She smirked.

"The second one?" she shouted over to them and grinned as they both nodded their heads.

She went in first, face-checking the thick bushes in the middle of the Fields. Caitlyn and Jayce caught up to her a few moments later, as she made her way slowly, not wanting to give out her position had anyone passed her right now. Reaching the end of their temporary shelter, they dashed for the second brush, almost crawling on the ground, careful not to step on any dry stick or kick a stone out of their cover.

Vi always wondered how it worked; she was never one to study magic and some things were just impossible for her to grasp in that matter. For example, this one; they were going through tall grass for all she knew, and yet to their enemies they were invisible. She had seen _Cho'Gath_ disappear in a bush a couple of times, even though the creature was at least six times bigger than her.

She shrugged to her internal monologue and saw Caitlyn's worried face looking straight at her.

"It's nothing," she whispered so quietly she was sure only the Sheriff could hear her, even though Jayce was just a few feet away. "I was just thinking, that's all."

"Oh,_ of course_," Caitlyn said in a relieved voice. Then a small, devilish smirk entered her face. "I should have known. You looked as if you were in great _pain_."

"Why, you little-"

She was cut off by Jayce's hand clapping over her mouth as he shushed them both. Caitlyn had to cover her own face not to burst out laughing at Vi's aggravated expression.

"Girls, _please_," he said, letting go of Vi but still holding his hand up just in case he'd need to shut her up again. "Are we trying to sneak up on them or not?"

"We are," they whispered in unison, the Enforcer rolling her eyes.

"You're not helping us hide if you keep on talking so loudly."

"Well, you won't help us much if you fall out of this bush with your _face_ smashed-"

"Vi, stop it. He's right," the Sheriff put a hand on Vi's shoulder to keep her in place. "We need to focus now."

"You started-"

"_Focus_, Vi."

So they all stared into the Fog of War, hoping to see anything.

They were lucky the Demacian team started to look for them and decided to split up, otherwise they'd probably die of old age in that bush. The fog swirled as a silhouette made its way through it, cutting through the dense air like an axe through wood.

The eerie light of the center of the Fields reflected from the lance; Jarvan was coming their way, alone. They all tensed in the bush, waiting for the Prince to get close enough for Jayce or Vi to knock him out.

He stopped abruptly, as if he'd heard something. Carefully, he made another step, the pebbles crunching beneath his armored boots in an unpleasant way. Vi held her breath; if he was to hear anything that would indicate their trap, it was surely not coming from her. She felt Caitlyn move against her shoulder, positioning herself for a critical shot. She aimed for the Prince's head.

As if on command, Jayce and Vi sprang out of the bush. Jarvan didn't even have the time to think about them as the Enforcer's giant fist hit its target, causing blood to gush from the Demacian's nose and mouth. In the heat of the moment she saw a few royal teeth falling to the ground.

Jayce's hammer was next; the Defender's aim was a bit off and Jarvan cried in pain as the massive hammer hit his right shoulder, shattering both his upper arm and collarbone. His lance fell to the ground as the limb went limp, before another strike of Jayce's weapon broke his shinbones in half.

The Exemplar of Demacia fell to his knees with a loud, pitiful whine and a bestial roar echoed through the Twisted Treeline. Shyvana wasn't nearly fast enough, though; one good shot from Caitlyn's rifle marked the kill.

Jarvan was down on the ground in a puddle of blood as the Half-Dragon soared over a nearby wall in her _more intimidating_ form. She landed on Jayce in a fury, bringing him down to lie beside the fallen Prince as she breathed fire in his face and a gut-twisting scream escaped the young man.

Vi felt herself go pale for a second; never before had she seen Shyvana so enraged. She tried to push the giant reptile away somehow, but she couldn't manage to move the heavy body of the beast even by a single inch. Shyvana kept focused on her target, tearing the skin on Jayce's chest with the extremely long, sharp claws of her forelimbs while her massive hind legs kept him pinned to the ground, crushing the man's thighs with the mere weight of the dragon.

There was no way to help him; Shyvana acted like an enraged animal more than ever. She didn't even seem to notice Caitlyn's bullets hitting her scaly skin as the Sheriff fired her rifle repeatedly.

A movement in the far corner of Vi's peripheral vision forced her to move her gaze away from Jayce. He was already dead, anyway.

The world around them went a little darker, but Vi didn't even notice it. Her Partner was in danger.

She ran up to the shorter woman and tackled her to the ground just as a silver bolt swished through the air where Caitlyn's hat was a second ago. Vayne was standing a few yards away from them, the mini-crossbow on her right arm raised to her face level as she fired another bolt at the Piltovian duo, this time hitting a target. Caitlyn cried out in pain as the sharp, stinging pain erupted just above her left hip bone; looking down she noticed the projectile pierced right through her side.

Caitlyn's scream seemed to get Shyvana out of her vicious trance as she raised her head, blood dripping from her jaws and the various wounds the Sheriff's rifle managed to inflict on her. She moved towards them at a slow pace, limping slightly on her right hind leg. Vi felt cornered now; they were coming from both directions.

_Focus_.

She let go of her partner and dashed straight for Vayne, jumping to the side just in time to avoid another one of her bolts; the scream behind her indicated Caitlyn wasn't as lucky as her. With an enraged growl the Enforcer caught the Night Hunter's cape just as the woman was about to retreat and yanked on it. Vayne fell down on her back ungracefully, her signature sunglasses landing a few feet away.

With all the rage that was boiling inside her Vi raised her hands high above her head only to bring them down with full force at the Demacian's chest. Vayne's eyes went wide at the contact and blood came gushing from her mouth, splattering on Vi's hips.

That was it. She killed- no, she completely _smashed_ Vayne in one hit.

She didn't have the time to think about it though; another scream behind her back told her to return to Caitlyn's side immediately. The Sheriff was in the top alley, crawling away from Shyvana at the highest speed possible as the dragon followed her, dragging one of her legs limp on the ground. Caitlyn was shooting blindly at her; most of the bullets still hitting the target, but bouncing off the rock-hard scales covering the dragon's body.

_"Shyvana is tanky as hell,"_ Vi screamed internally to her Summoner and she couldn't help but notice the fear audible in her mind's voice. She ran as fast as she possibly could, but Shyvana suddenly remembered she could float as well._ "What the fuck do I do to stop her now!?"_

He didn't answer, but Vi had neither the time nor patience to wait for his response.

She jumped in front of the Sheriff, her gauntlets fully charged. Shyvana seemed to hesitate for a moment before she dashed with her head low above the ground, aiming to bite the Enforcer's legs. Vi jumped up in the very last moment, successfully landing with her feet on top of the dragon's skull. She kicked the beast in the temple before getting off her, watching in awe as Shyvana just stood up on her hind legs and bared her teeth. She was indeed _really tanky_. As tanky as a _fucking tank_ could possibly get.

Vi managed to land a charged blast on the dragon's chest and Shyvana had to take a step back. The dragon hissed, smoke coming out of her nostrils as a bullet shot right through her left wing. With murder in her yellow eyes she lunged at Vi, but the Enforcer managed to jump away in the very last moment and the awful sound of a cracking cobblestone filled the Fields.

Shyvana shook her head, trying to get the debris out of her eyes as Caitlyn looked at the hole in the pavement with terror. Not having time to think she brought the rifle close to her face again and aimed, focused solely on the beast's head. But every move sent jolts of pain through her body and she couldn't position her hands properly; she missed by a good few feet.

The dragon turned her side at her, slowly making her way towards Vi as the pink-haired girl jumped in place, motioning for Shyvana to come at her. The Demacian was swaying, though; the impact her skull made with the ground must have surely caused a concussion. She hissed painfully a few times before she stopped walking at all. Dark, almost pitch-black blood was coming out of her nostrils.

She attempted to take another step and she tripped, falling down on her side and yelping in pain as her whole body crushed the injured wing. As she hit the ground her body began to change, the scaly dragon gradually becoming a young girl.

A young, _naked_ girl, covered in blood so deeply crimson it was almost black. She tried to support herself on her arms and coughed a few times. More blood splattered on the pavement beneath her.

One shot was enough to take her down now and Caitlyn didn't miss this time. With a lifeless thud Shyvana's upper body landed on the stones of the alley.

Silence settled over the Fields once again.

Vi just stood there with her mouth wide open for a few seconds before she regained the ability to speak.

"What the hell just happened now?" she asked, turning to face Caitlyn. The Sheriff was holding a hand to her chest where a silver bolt was sticking out just above her right breast. "Why the fuck is she _naked_? Is this some sort of _Summoner entertainment_ or what? I just hope they left some clothes on Jayce-"

"Vi," Caitlyn interrupted the younger woman, trying to stand up. She hissed in pain as she shifted her body weight on her left leg and irritated the wound above her hip. Almost the whole front of her dress was stained red. "Help me up, please."

"What are you _still_ doing here?" the Enforcer ran up to her, offering the brunette a hand and then a shoulder to lean on. "The teamfight's over, Cait, go back to base. I can push the turret alone."

"I _wanted_ to," she answered in a shaky voice, irritation mixed with pain on her face. "I asked my Summoner to recall me several times, but I think we have lost connection," she huffed, shaking her head. She hated working with amateurs, they always seemed to have magic connection problems at the most inconvenient of times. "I wanted to walk there by myself but I can't- not with these."

She motioned to the silver bolts sticking out of her chest and stomach. Vi furrowed her brows; normally, these would be gone after a few minutes, surely a shorter amount of time than had passed since Vayne shot the Sheriff. And Caitlyn's wounds were still bleeding.

The Enforcer looked at the blue turret, just a few tens of yards away from them. There was no fog obscuring her view and while it was weird, she didn't pay much attention to that. She sighed.

"Alright," she decided, taking Caitlyn into her massive, mechanical hands with ease. The brunette screamed in pain and surprise, but she still held on tight to her rifle. "I'll take you to the base now and _then_ we push the lanes. We're gonna win, anyway."

oOo

They arrived into the base in complete silence, save for Caitlyn's quiet, painful moans every time the Enforcer took a step too careless.

The brunette's eyes were closed as she bit hard on her lower lip not to scream in pain and tried her very best to make this setting as comfortable for them both as possible. The giant, mechanical arms holding her back and legs were awfully cold against her skin and she tried to focus on this feeling rather than the burning pain in her chest.

Every breath she took reminded her of the silver bolt stuck between her ribs, though.

Suddenly, all movement stopped; Caitlyn opened her eyes to look up at Vi, but the younger woman was staring intensely at something.

"What is it?" Caitlyn asked, trying to follow Vi's eyes. They were in the blue base and... something _was_ off, actually.

"The Nexus thingy," Vi answered and Caitlyn immediately switched her attention to the crystal. It was dark and lifeless; just as if somebody took the energy out of it.

"What happened to it?" she wondered as she looked up at Vi again. The Enforcer shrugged.

"Dunno," she said as she readjusted Caitlyn a little bit and started to walk again into the summoning platform's direction. "It looks like somebody shut it off or something."

A strong gust of wind almost pulled them to the ground and they looked at each other with bewildered expressions. Ascending the staircase leading to the platform, they were met with a scarecrow head lying on the ground. Vi cringed and involuntarily took a step back; the still smiling thing looked _horribly_ creepy. They both turned their own heads in the shop's direction to check if what they saw was true.

"Did the... shopkeeper just fall apart?" Caitlyn said after Vi laid her down on the floor beside the fallen tree that served as a shop in their base.

"It seems so," Vi looked over at the head and remembered how lively the scarecrow was just fifteen minutes ago. She forced herself to look away and noticed Caitlyn's still bleeding wounds.

Her brows furrowed as she gently touched the area over the brunette's left hipbone and immediately took her hand back as the Sheriff cried out in pain.

"What are you-!"

"Caitlyn," she cut the woman off with a hand to her mouth, but the Piltover Sheriff would have stopped talking anyway upon seeing Vi's pale face. The Enforcer moved her hand over the stomach wound again and Caitlyn resisted the urge to yelp. "Cait, you're not healing."

The brunette looked down at the wounds, though after seeing them she wished she hadn't; the sight only made it hurt much more, as blood was already forming a small puddle on the ground. She switched her gaze to the pink-haired woman, eyes wide open and mouth agape in shock.

Caitlyn had seen that look once; and back then, she was close to losing her life for _real_.

"No, don't worry, it's fine," she brought a hand up to cup the Enforcer's cheek, putting on the most reassuring face she could right now. They were on the Fields of Justice; a squadron of skilled Summoners monitored their every move and even if that rookie boy screwed something up, there was at least ten people to mend it. Vi shook her head wildly, her eyes still fixed on Caitlyn's bleeding chest. "Vi, look at me; come on... it's alright. Everything is alright."

"It's not." She was still staring at the silver bolt lodged above Caitlyn's right breast, but her eyes were glazed over. "It's not. It's taking _far_ too fucking long, Caitlyn. I can't reach my Summoner anymore. I don't even- I don't even remember the last time I could!"

"They will fix it, I'm sure of that-"

"Fix it?" she motioned in the direction of the dead Nexus. "Have you ever seen this shit looking like this?"

Caitlyn didn't respond, she only stared at the ground. There might have been a small chance Vi's judgment could be accurate; she was a part of the top crime-fighting duo in Piltover, after all.

"Have you!?"

"No," she moved her eyes to stare directly into Vi's face.

The younger woman was so easy to read; anger and fear surfaced the most, but there was also an underline of sadness to her expression.

Caitlyn gulped and it hurt to swallow. She looked around, searching for anything to distract her mind with. Blood on the stones. Various parts of a scarecrow. Broken glass bottles.

Breaking glass bottle.

Her head sprang up to look at Vi, who was rummaging through the shelves of the shop.

"What are you doing?" she asked her and forced back the need to cough. Blood was invading her throat and choking her, but she knew the motion would only make everything worse.

"I'm searching for the potions- the red ones," Vi murmured, shoving aside a few pieces of parchment. She found another empty bottle and threw it away angrily. "There's fucking _nothing_ in here!"

"Of course," Caitlyn gasped out as she shifted herself into a sitting position. Her voice was so eerily calm it was far more than unsettling. "This is the Twisted Treeline, remember? The Shadow Isles. Even the shopkeeper wasn't real- just a puppet. They probably conjured these things up whenever we needed them."

Throwing another object in the air Vi let out an enraged roar. She fell down to her knees, pressing her forehead against the counter of the shop. They didn't even hear the sound of breaking glass; Vi's gauntlets probably send the bottle flying all the way to the purple base.

"What the fuck is going on here?" she whispered. She turned around to look at Caitlyn, who was breathing heavily, but other than that her face remained peaceful. Vi scooted over to her, eyes still locked on Caitlyn's.

With a deep, shaky sigh the Enforcer pushed a few buttons of her left gauntlet and a hydraulical hiss filled the base; the hextech locks opened swiftly, releasing a pale hand not much larger than Caitlyn's. She got rid of the second one as well, then the heavy pauldrons before she sat down next to the Sheriff, circling her arm around the shorter woman's waist.

"The fog was gone," she said as Caitlyn laid her head on Vi's shoulder lightly, wincing in pain as she exhaled the air from her lungs. "The fucking _fog_ was gone right after we attacked Jarvan, but I thought it was just a glitch."

"_A glitch_?" Caitlyn asked, trying to breathe as slowly as possible.

"That's what Summoners call it when the magic kinda fails," Vi smiled at her faintly, though she was fairly sure the Sheriff couldn't see her. "I guess this one now is a big, big failure. Fucking enormous."

"Jayce," was Caitlyn's only answer. Vi didn't need to respond to that in any way; they were the Piltover's Finest, after all. They could put all the clues together.

Vi could _feel_ the absence of Summoner magic. The air pressure was lower, but it was harder to breath as the stench of the graveyard hidden beneath the soil of the Twisted Treeline filled the Enforcer's nostrils. Her bruises didn't heal at all and her body hurt, for real, not stopped by the healing and soothing magic they got so used to when _playing_ on the Fields of Justice.

The picture of Jayce's last moments was burned in her memory and his desperate cry for help still echoed in her head; she couldn't help him, not against what she now realized was Shyvana's true, non-restrained form, but she didn't even try enough. They were supposed to see each other again, at this very platform and in the Institute afterwards. He'd probably annoy the hell out of her just as he always did, and she'd be pissed off at him.

But she'd be fucking glad he was still alive.

They had to escape. There was no way out of the Shadow Isles, at least none that Vi knew of. The sea surrounding the islands was filled with all sorts of poisons, acids and other deadly things that humanity knew of; possibly a lot _more _than that. Just touching the surface of the water would probably kill them both.

Caitlyn moved to take the hat off her head; the Sheriff's hands were dirty with her own blood. The blood that wouldn't stop flowing from her open wounds, the wounds Vi could do nothing about. Vayne's silver bolts dug deep in the brunette's body and removing them could only cause more harm than there already was. The Enforcer couldn't think of anything to soothe her partner's pain.

"I'm so sorry, Cupcake," she said, her voice breaking.

"I know." Her eyes were closed as she let her head rest comfortably against Vi's chest.

She was breathing shallowly, as each inhale brought a new wave of pain resonating through her chest and stomach. She remembered being in this situation before, only that time she ended up in Piltover's best hospital, in the Intensive Care Unit with a dozen of doctors working to stitch her body back together. Vi would look at her then just as she was now, though with one slight difference. Back then, amongst all other things, she could see the hope in the younger woman's eyes. Right now there was only helplessness.

"We toyed with death so many times," she whispered, her voice broken. "This whole Institute was a charade from the very beginning. Putting people on a magically enhanced field for them to slaughter each other, over and over again? To bring _peace_ to Valoran?"

"I can only wonder how they'll deal with this," Vi answered bitterly as she rested her chin on Caitlyn's forehead. "I think we've just killed the Demacian Prince."

She was surprised with the sob that escaped Caitlyn's lips.

"Oh, gods," she breathed out, bringing a hand to cover her mouth, the blood mixing with tears dripping down her cheeks.

oOo

"Caitlyn?"

"Still here."

They were sitting in the base for half an hour now, the Enforcer's back against the wall and Caitlyn supported against her, lying between the younger woman's legs. Vi would say the Sheriff's name every so often as she felt the delicate figure in her lap go too still. It was the third time in the past five minutes.

"Tell me something."

The quiet plea startled her; Caitlyn's voice was so weak she could barely hear her now, but the demand in her tone was still as clear as the very day they met for the first time.

"You remember that day?" she asked her before realizing the brunette could not hear her thoughts. "When we first met. It was... a robbery, a bank if I remember correctly. You told me to surrender and lay my weapons down-"

"You told me to go fuck myself."

"Gods, would I be glad to see it then."

She wiped off a tear from her cheek as she saw the faint smile on Caitlyn's lips.

"Though really, I have never seen a female Sheriff before."

"Neither have I."

Vi brushed a few strands of hair from the brunette's pale face, lingering her fingers on the delicate skin of Caitlyn's forehead.

"I like the next story better," she said, as she made small circles on Caitlyn's temples. "How you caught me. The city of Piltover would probably have me _hanged _for all the crimes I've committed..." She rested her head against the wall, closing her eyes. Caitlyn's hair was so soft when she started playing with it. "But you wanted me to _join_ you. I thought I misheard you when you said it, but then you repeated the exact words. _I want you to join me_. Not us, not the forces,_ me_. You wanted me as your partner even though all I've done since we saw each other for the very first time was being a pain in your lawful butt."

"I saw the potential in you."

A flicker of smile appeared on Vi's face before Caitlyn coughed and red droplets of blood covered the hand she brought to cover her face with. The Enforcer ran her thumb over the brunette's pale palm, smearing the blood across her almost paper-white skin in a futile attempt to wipe it off.

To make it disappear.

"Why did you agree?" Caitlyn's voice was even weaker now, but her brows were furrowed when Vi switched the attention from her palm to her face again. "I don't think I've ever asked you."

"You haven't," she admitted, cupping both the brunette's cheeks in her hands. "And, uh... I saw the boobs on you."

Caitlyn snorted and opened her eyes to look at the younger woman's face. Vi locked her own eyes with Caitlyn's and they just stayed like this for a minute or two.

"But really," she started as Caitlyn's eyelids slid shut again. "I- I think I wanted to join you because I wanted to join _you_."

The Sheriff raised a brow.

"The... _good side_. I've had enough of hanging out with these guys after a couple of years of complete mayhem. Destroying stuff is _thrilling_ for the first few times, but then it gets... uh..."

"Boring?"

"Agonizingly _scary_," she finished her sentence and Caitlyn forced herself to open her eyes again. "If you weren't, well, _you_, Cait, you would have shot me. Right there, as you had the possibility to. I was fucking scared that every time we went out to do something, like, uh, rob a bank or steal a couple of cars we would get caught. Lifetime imprisonment was the _brightest_ scenario."

"Why didn't you leave them?"

"I was scared of that, too," she answered, and her voice lacked the usual playfulness Caitlyn was so accustomed to. Vi would never tell that to her; she would never tell that to anybody, she probably didn't even admit it to _herself_ before. "I was so scared that if I left them, they would find me, even if I ran out of town and started a peaceful life as a monk in Ionia. Immediate death was the _brightest scenario_ in this case, and trust me, I had more of those dark ones playing out in my head."

"You were waiting for me."

It wasn't a question; Caitlyn stated what they both knew was true.

"Yes. I needed a chance to change my life somehow. You gave me one."

Caitlyn's response got drowned in a fit of coughs. Blood spilled down her chin and on her neck, sipping between her fingers as she tried to stop it with her hand. Vi just held her, not trusting the wounds enough to move the girl around anymore. If there was a chance to put the inevitable away for just a couple of minutes more, she would hate herself for eternity if she ruined it.

"Vi," the shaky moan leaving Caitlyn's lips was nothing like she'd ever heard before. The Enforcer bent down to her, looking her straight in the eyes even though tears blurred her field of vision. "I'm- I'm scared."

"No," she whispered back and a single droplet hit Caitlyn's forehead. "No, you're not. You're Caitlyn. You're the Sheriff of Piltover, the one whose name makes every villain in the city shit their pants. It made me spend countless nights awake in fright when I wasn't your partner. And I'm so fucking honored I had the chance to be."

"I am," she gasped out, reaching to touch Vi's face. "I am- ho... nored. I... had you."

"You _have_ me," she covered the hand touching her chin and intertwined her fingers with the second one. "I'm here, Baby."

"I- I can't- it... hurts..."

"I know, Cupcake," she let go of the hand and placed her own to cup Caitlyn's cheek. "Don't think about it, try not to. Think of something nice... of- of Piltover. Think of Piltover."

Caitlyn's eyes were still locked on hers and her lips moved, but no sound came out.

"The park that we saved once as Jinx was trying to burn it, remember? They named the new fountain after you... so many people came to see the opening that we were actually anxious about it, cause we didn't manage to catch that blue haired bitch... and we thought she might be hiding in the crowd to finish what she started. You couldn't relax through the whole thing- and every freaking _child_ that came up to you to tell you how much they look up to you would only make you more nervous."

Caitlyn closed her eyes, a painful scowl on her face.

"Or the colorful lights in the night. Every time you were too stressed to force yourself to go to bed, you would stay up with your paperwork until I took you out by force, placed you in the car's passenger seat and drove you around... You would often actually fall asleep as we just roamed the city and... and you would know the name of every neon on every street... scratch it, you would know every little detail of every street and you'd often get disturbed if a fucking _trash bin_ was moved a few feet away from its usual place."

She opened them again and inhaled deeply, moaning as her flesh moved against the bolt in her chest.

"Or that ice-cream parlor where we used to hang out with Jayce on the weekends. He always had to take the weirdest mix of flavors and ended up eating one or two of his eight scoops... and always bothered you about how you only ate vanilla... stupid guy with his stupid sexual references," she grinned through the tears as Jayce's scorched face came to her mind for a second. "And you would always tell me that eating pizza and ice-cream at the same time still counted as eating both of them, remember that, Cait?"

With effort, the Sheriff nodded her head.

"And our old office... the one Jinx blew up while we were in a drive-thru at that fast food joint you hated... we came back to a pile of debris and screaming people. But no one... no one..." her voice got caught up in her throat as she choked on her tears, looking into Caitlyn's dazed eyes. "But no one died."

The brunette intertwined the fingers of her right hand with Vi's left. Her lips parted slightly and a trail of blood trickled down the corner of her mouth.

"Think of it." Vi gulped down the bile in her mouth. "Think of Piltover."

She tried to recall the images she was talking about, but all she could see was Caitlyn's bloodied face as the brunette closed her eyes again. Didn't shut them, just closed so gently, as if she was going for an afternoon nap after an especially tiring day of running around the very city of Piltover, protecting it from every criminal stupid enough to disturb the peace while the Piltover's Finest were in town.

"You," the whisper was so quiet that for a moment Vi thought she only imagined it. But Caitlyn's lips moved along with the sound. "You," she repeated, tightening her grip on Vi's hand so much it hurt.

"You," Vi smiled, though Caitlyn couldn't see that with her eyes closed. She did feel the tears falling down on her eyelids, lips, her cheeks and the tip of her nose.

"Us."

The Enforcer bent down and brushed her lips against Caitlyn's. Then she pressed them down on her forehead.

And she stayed like this. For a couple of minutes. Then a couple more. There was only her, and the silence around her. And the body still so warm in her lap.

So she stayed like that for some time that she didn't even care to count.

And then she couldn't stand it.

oOo

The cry echoed across the Twisted Treeline. And then another answered, and another, and another, another, _fucking another_.

But there was no one besides Vi; it was only her own screams she heard.

There were four champions in the middle of the Fields. Jarvan IV, the Exemplar of Demacia, with his armor dented and a gaping gunshot hole in his royal skull. Jayce, the Defender of Tomorrow, charred to death, the skin of his torso torn repeatedly by claws sharp enough to cut through glass. Vayne, the Night Hunter, crushed to a bloody pulp with surprise still visible on her face and her eyes still open. Shyvana, the Half-Dragon, a vulnerable girl lying naked in a puddle of her own blood.

But they were all dead. Just as dead as Caitlyn's cold body Vi clutched on to.

She cried again.

She was alone now. Alone on the Shadow Isles, with no way out, at least none that she knew of.

"I never wanted to enter this League," she said, pressing her cheek against the soft brunette hair. "I only followed you, because I wanted to be with you. I have this feeling everybody thought the Institute would be a paradise for me; I could punch the shit out of people all day long and nobody got hurt, you know? That's why I didn't want to join. It didn't feel the same if nobody got hurt."

She ran her hand down the smooth mane.

"It wasn't _real_; nothing was ever real here. People of Demacia lived together with Noxians and didn't even try to _hurt_ each other- at least not outside the Fields. Not real, not at all. And all the void creatures; and the yordles they didn't try to eat; and all the hextechvision cameras. It was just a _show_, Cait, and I didn't want to join that. I wanted to take care of the real stuff. Criminals deserved to be punched, to a certain amount, then put to jail."

She inhaled deeply.

"But killing? Sure, there were some champions in the _League of fucking Legends_ that didn't have the best history. Maniacs, mass murderers, psychopaths, sadists, megalomaniacs... but _killing_? I was a _thief_ before I joined you... I never killed and I never _wanted _to kill anybody."

She looked in the direction of the four fallen champions.

"I never wanted to kill anybody."

oOo

She heard the odd, rustling sound before she even saw the hairy legs of a giant arachnid in the entrance to the base.

She wasn't alone, after all.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Thank you for reading, I hope you've enjoyed it. Please leave a review stating your thoughts!

Also, if you haven't read Stray Dogs - I invite you to do so. The story further explores the magic shutdown of the Institute of War.

I plan to write one-shot stories for Howling Abyss and Crystal Scar during the "shutdown" as well (those are Fields of Justice as well, after all), and although I have some stuff planned already (according to the action of Stray Dogs), I'm open to suggestions - please drop them in the reviews or send a private message to me, I really appreciate all the comments.


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